🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

Day: January 15, 2009

Press release: Regional leaders unite to send strong message on federal transportation priorities

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Below is a press release sent out yesterday by Metro. I have just received the actual resolution and list of projects and I might do another story about it on the Front Page soon.

For now…

Regional leaders unite to send strong message on federal transportation priorities

The Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) is set to approve tomorrow Metro Resolution 09-4016 – sending a list of policies and projects for federal funding to the Metro Council for final approval. The resolution sets funding and policy priorities for the next Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) six-year transportation investment program.

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More from the BTA on Idaho-style stop law

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

If you’re looking for more information from the BTA on why they’ve decided to push the Oregon legislature to pass a law that would make it legal for people on bicycles to roll through stop signs (a.k.a. an “Idaho-style” stop sign law), read the statement just published by their lobbyist Karl Rohde.

Here are some excerpts:

Coming to a complete stop at all stop signs, rather than yielding at safe operating speeds, substantially reduces the efficiency of riding a bicycle and can create unsafe conditions.

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Portland’s bike lane characters; a proud tradition continues (Slideshow)

One of Portland’s customized
bike lane markings.
-Slideshow below-
(Photo: City of Portland)

2009 marks the 10th anniversary of a proud Portland tradition: our creatively modified bike lane pavement markings or what I like to call, “bike lane guys”.

The “unlikely cycling hero” who started the tradition in 1999 — according to Portlander Jim Waigand, who has documented the phenomenon since 2003 — is former City employee Todd Roberts. In an article published in VeloVision Magazine in September 2003, Waigand uncovered the fascinating story behind the practice. (I’ve uploaded that article as a PDF with permission from the publisher. You can download it here.)

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Reader Photo of the Week: Fog on the Broadway Bridge

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Reader Kathy Hile sent in this photo from her commute over the Broadway Bridge this morning. “It was a very surreal ride, biking in the fog…” she wrote.

The Broadway Bridge in the fog on Thursday morning (Photo: Kathy Hile)

TRB profile: Roads and bike paths on the reservations

[Publisher’s note: This article is a dispatch by Managing Editor Elly Blue, who recently attended the Transportation Research Board conference in Washington D.C. Read more articles from Elly’s East Coast Tour.]

John La Verdure (Photo by Elly Blue)

Taking a break in the lobby of the Marriott during the TRB conference, I noticed a man nearby with Portland on his nametag. He turned out to be John La Verdure, an engineer who lives in Troutdale and advises the The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on technical issues with building roads on Native American reservations.

I asked what conference sessions he was attending, and he launched into an enthusiastic description of a flaw that has lately become apparent in the 12 inch concrete slabs used to build many highways. The slabs shift slightly, over a long period, so that 20 years after they’re installed, one end will be 1/16 inch lower than perfectly flush. That’s why, when you’re driving across North Dakota, the road feels bumpy.

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